Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey will not file criminal charges against any corrections deputies who the coroner determined were responsible for the death of a homeless preacher in jail.

In a decision released Tuesday, Morrissey said the level of force the deputies used was justifiable and the result of Marvin Booker’s violent refusal to cooperate.

“Tragically, Mr. Booker’s actions and choices resulted in his death,” Morrissey said in a decision statement released Tuesday.

Booker, 56, died early in the morning on July 9 at the Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center. He stopped breathing while he was being restrained by five deputies.

Morrissey’s decision not to file charges drew an anguished response from Booker’s family.

“I’m reeling,” said Booker’s brother, the Rev. Spencer Lamar Booker of Bethel AME Church in Kansas City, Mo. “There are so many inconsistences between what is in his report and what witnesses said and the autopsy report. It’s mind-boggling.”

The city of Denver will now conduct an internal-affairs review of the deputies’ actions to determine whether any department rules were broken.

Morrissey said that after repeatedly viewing video from four cameras — and watching in slow motion — he came to the conclusion that Booker was the one responsible for the outcome.

“When an arrestee’s conduct necessitates the use of physical force by the deputies to carry out their responsibilities, it is not a mutual combat event,” Morrissey’s statement says. “There is not supposed to be a fight. Arrestee compliance is not optional, it is mandatory.”

Denver’s Office of the Coroner had previously ruled that Booker’s death was the result of homicide — meaning it was caused by another person. The cause of his death was ruled as “cardiorespiratory arrest during physical restraint.”

But it was up to Morrissey to determine whether the deputies were legally justified in handling Booker the way they did. At one point, according to the coroner’s review of the video, four deputies lay on top of the 135-pound Booker while a fifth discharged a Taser into his legs. After Booker was carried face-down into a holding cell, a deputy remained on top of him for another 90 seconds to two minutes.

Booker had the musculature of a boxer, according to Dr. John Carver, the assistant medical examiner, and his strength surprised deputies, Morrissey’s report says. Morrissey said that Booker refused to follow a female deputy’s orders, cursed her and violently resisted, and fought them for a prolonged period.

Other inmates and an attorney for Booker’s family said Morrissey failed to take into account that the confrontation could have been avoided by deputies. Booker, who was disruptive while waiting to be booked on a misdemeanor charge of suspicion of possession of drug paraphernalia, was trying to retrieve his shoes before being placed in a holding cell, according to witnesses, when he was grabbed by a deputy and ordered to comply immediately.

“This is a whitewash,” said attorney Darold Killmer.

The video of the confrontation has not been made public, but Mayor John Hickenlooper said he will allow Booker’s family to view his last moments alive while the video remains otherwise secret until the internal-affairs investigation and disciplinary process are complete.

In Denver, it is not uncommon for months to pass before internal-affairs and discipline processes are concluded. Five jail employees, Sgt. Carrie Rodriguez and deputies James Grimes, Faun Gomez, Kenneth Robinette and Kyle Sharp, were placed on paid leave in August while that review is underway.

“It is not appropriate to release the video at this time because witnesses are still being interviewed as part of the internal-affairs investigation,” Hickenlooper said in a statement. “We are committed to working with Mr. Booker’s family and their attorneys to arrange a private viewing of the jail video.”

Killmer said Booker’s family looks forward to viewing the tape to see firsthand.

“We’d love to see the video,” Killmer said. “We’re going to do everything we can to secure the evidence.”

Kirk Mitchell is a general assignment reporter at The Denver Post who focuses on criminal justice stories. He began working at the newspaper in 1998, after writing for newspapers in Mesa, Ariz., and Twin Falls, Idaho, and The Associated Press in Salt Lake City. Mitchell first started writing the Cold Case blog in Fall 2007, in part because Colorado has more than 1,400 unsolved homicides.

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